It may just be me but there’s a trend stating to develop in the gaming community that I’ve started to notice. Every month or so either some idiot will hurt someone or break the law and games will somehow be blamed, or some film director will say games can’t tell a good story or that they aren’t art. Of course none of these are true and we (the helpful members of society that we are) will try to tell them why they’re wrong .It’s here that I’ve noticed some hypocrisy in the way we deal with the people who bash our favourite hobby.



Say for example a well respected author or film maker says that games can’t tell a good story or that it isn’t art. The response lights up as people comment on how brilliant games can be, the moving stories we’ve all been through, and tell of the Metal Gears, the Bioshocks and the Icos. How games can accomplish things that other mediums can’t. We’ll talk about how characters face the side of themselves that they hide from others only to have it awaken as a persona, we’ll tell of how they slay innocent colossi to resurrect those who they love most. We all know games can be artistic and tell wonderful stories and we’re quick to tell people who think otherwise.

Now imagine some 14 year old idiot robs his mother’s car and knocks someone down, and then some “moral guardian” claims the boy can’t tell fantasy from reality and games are to blame because a copy of GTA IV was found in his room (despite the fact that police will deny the games relation). Again this will be met with harsh criticism, but this time it’s different, this time gamers will come to dismiss these clams’ with that beautiful four worded shield; it's just a game.



But how can we have two such contrasting views about games? How can games become an accepted form of storytelling if half the time its own fans dismiss them as just games? Of course games aren’t to blame but we shouldn’t be so quick to brush off the accusations, we need to address them. We can’t pick and choose when they’re art or not when it’s convenient. In my humble opinion we should just pick one and stick with it and I think it should be art.

Now I’m not saying every game should try to be a piece of art, some of my favourite games are made with pure entertainment in mind. The Devil May Cry series are some of my favourite games ever (except for 2...that never happened) and they’re not going to win any awards in storytelling any time soon, it’s just big, ridiculous, over the top fun and it damn well knows it!

And I’m also not saying we should all sit around the fireplace, smoking our wooden pipes and stroking our beards discussing the merits of chain sawing someone in half or that time a guy takes a piss on Snake when he’s pretending to be a statue. Not every moment in gaming is meaningful and we know it. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if we think games are art than we should try to stand by that, if someone tries to put down games we can’t lean on the crutch of “It’s only a game”



Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, and with something as widespread and popular as games are nowadays there’s bound to be some differing opinions within the community. But these two seem to rear their head so often that there has to be some overlapping going on. Saying all games are art when they’re looked down upon is one thing, and saying they’re just games when their visceral nature is called into question is another. But saying both is a double standard.

Games can be compared to a lot of things; for every picturesque establishment dedicated to fine cuisine - there’s an abrakebabra ‘round the corner waiting for you to stumble in at four AM completely hammered, craving some bacteria ridden Turkish food. For every photo that encapsulates a moment of pure, sublime beauty - theirs that weird neanderthal milk rape thing that Jim posted. The point I’m trying to get across is that games, like many things, are a mixed bag. We need to take the bad with the good.

To take a page from Atticus Finch we may need to walk a mile in the dissenter’s shoes, try to see things from their perspective. Imagine you make films; you dedicate your life to telling stories and then you see a game... you see one hour of shooting people in the face and then a two minute cut-scene where the protagonist talks in a gravily voice about how he has amnesia or wants revenge...probably both. The same goes for the”moral guardians” except all they see is the shooting in the face part



If we believe games can be art then it’s our responsibility to show these people that what they’ve seen has been out of context and not the best that games have to offer. That games can be thought provoking, that games can make statements about life. That games can and have made us laugh and made us cry.

We all know games can be art and it’s up to us to stand by our convictions and prove it.